The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) received more than 2 million requests for background checks in November and more than 2.7 million in December, Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit reports.

Although the FBI says there is not a one-to-one correlation between a firearm background check and a firearm sale, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence notes that current federal law requires criminal background checks only for guns sold through licensed firearm dealers (which account for 60 percent of all gun sales in the U.S.).

So even though the number of Americans saying they want "stricter gun laws" has reached its highest point in 12 years, there's no ignoring the spike in applications and ammunition sales in addition to initiatives by towns in Utah and Idaho to arm and train each of their citizens.

Holt notes that if the amount of guns sold matched the number of background checks, it would be more than enough to supply the standing armies of both China (2.3 million active members) and India (1.13 million active members).